To soften water or dimineralize it, the prior art used either distillation, or chemical means such as ion exchanger appliances, or the addition of polyphosphates, etc. The drawbacks are known of such processes which alter water chemically and sometimes make it unsuitable for consumption, i.e. nondrinkable.
On the other hand, the amount of sodium present in water after treatment with an ion exchanger makes it inadequate for people following a salt-free diet. Moreover, the periodic regeneration of the system brings about a pollution of the environment which is not negligible and is expensive for the user and the community.
Among the appliances used at present to prevent scaling the following apparatus may be noted:
Apparatus using permanent magnets, the treatment consisting in passing the liquids through the fields of one or more magnets. The operation of such apparatus is dependent upon the condition of the magnets which are fragile and may lose their qualities by becoming coated, particularly with iron particles, and the installation of these appliances requires the opening of the pipes.
So-called electric or electronic apparatus made up a processing chamber containing an anode and a cathode and through which the water to be processed passes. These appliances can process only a limited amount of water, restricted by the capacity of the processing chamber. The deterioration of the anode or the cathode brings about a decrease of output and supervision is therefore necessary. The ducts definitely have to be opened for setting up the apparatus.
So-called ultrasonic appliances, composed of an ultrasonic generator and of an emission probe incorporated into the water duct or the boiler, and the vibrations of which are thought to prevent or destroy existing scaling.
Electronic apparatus of a so-called induction type consisting of a generator and cables coiled on both sides, around the pipe. The capacity of such apparatus is very limited as they create only a very weak current which cannot be verified in situ and are absolutely not suitable for the constant rates of flow or for the large diameters of the pipes. Accordingly, their industrial applications are either impossible or very restricted.
The process of capacitive transfer by induction of the invention uses at least two separate electric circuits, one primary circuit connected to an electronic generator supplying the electric pulses which can be set, or are already set, in terms of shape, frequency, amplitude and intensity, and one secondary circuit constituting an oscillating circuit, the resonance frequency of which is regulable and polarizable, and covering, wholly or partly, the outside of the walls of a pipe, a tank or a barrel.
According to the invention several primary circuits can be connected to the same settable or preset generator, permitting coupling to several secondary circuits, whose resonance frequency is regulable, amplifiable or polarizable separately by a circuit by means of fixed or variable capacitors, or other electric or electronic assembly, such as quartz, transistors or diode.